Study links HRT to acute pancreatitis

Women who use hormone replacement therapy (HRT) after the menopause could be at an increased risk of developing acute pancreatitis, a new study has found.

Researchers at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden examined data on 31,494 women aged 48 and followed them up from 1997 to 2010.

At the start, 42 per cent used HRT, 12 per cent had previous used the therapy and the rest had never experienced it.

The research discovered that current or past HRT patients were at a 1.5-fold increased likelihood of developing acute pancreatitis than their counterparts who had never used it.

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Risk appeared particularly elevated among patients having HRT for hot flushes and those who had been on it for a decade or more.

Writing in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, co-author Dr Viktor Oskarsson said: 'These findings, though speculative, may suggest that exogenous oestrogen induces some persistent change in the pancreas for which the duration of exposure may be important.'

Acute pancreatitis occurs when the pancreas becomes inflamed over a short period of time. Symptoms typically disappear within a week, but severe cases can cause serious complications and even death.

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